The Daily Beet

20 Mar Allergies: Soy and other Beans.

Yesterday we learned all about gluten and how to shop if you are gluten intolerant. Today we are tackling soy and other beans.

First, let’s clear some stuff up about soy. The soy bean has been around for a long time. Most people think tofu when they think soy. Tofu is just is just curd made from mashed soybeans. You can even make a tofu like substance using other kinds of beans. The soy bean in and of itself is not unhealthy (for many people). Often, it is what is done to the poor bean that has lead people to believe that soy is not healthy. Often, junk food products are made from soy, things like soy cheese, soy based meats are not part of a healthy diet. So you want to stay away from the highly processe junk. For a much more in depth look at soy, check out this article by Dr. Neal Barnard with PCRM.

With that being said, there are some people that should limit their intake of soy. The soy bean is still higher in fat than other beans (around 40%) and higher in protein as well. For people battling diseases like heart disease, T2 diabetes and obesity you will want to limit your soy intake. Because of the higher fat we would suggest that you use soy sparingly, be sure that your diet is filled with a variety of foods.

It is important to remember that a plant-strong diet is NOT a soy promoting diet. The soy bean is just one of MANY beans that people can enjoy. If you’d rather skip soy, that is completely okay, there are lots of other beans to choose from!

Aside from soy beans, there are people who have issues with other beans.

If you believe that you have an allergy to another type of bean there are a few things you can do first:

1. Try sticking to a very clean plant-strong diet for at least a month. Sometimes if people are eating a plant-poor diet their bodies are not used to handling the fiber packed beans.

2. Make sure that you chew your food! This seems obvious, but is an important thing to remember. Chewing food helps aid in digestion, especially of beans.

3. Make sure that you rinse beans if you are cooking them yourself.

What to do if a recipe calls for soy:

If you are able to use other beans, we’ve found that using a white bean (like a white kidney) is a nice replacement for dishes that call for tofu. So for instance if you see a recipe for tofu scramble, substitute a white bean.

Another great substitution are potatoes. We have made potato scramble and have even used mashed up white potatoes in our sweet potato lasagna.

Directions
1. Cook 1 cup uncooked brown rice with a dash of salt according to package instructions. This will cook up into about 2 cups of cooked rice. Allowing for 2 batches, or 8 cups of milk.
2. Add 1 cup cooked brown rice with 4 cups water. Add sweetener and vanilla, if desired.
3. Blend on high for up to 3 minutes, or until water turns white.
4. You can strain it if you like, or just shake it well when you use it.
5. Store in fridge.

For silken tofu you can try thickening almond milk with corn starch or arrowroot until it is a more pudding like texture. You can also throw in some chia seeds if you want it to gel a little more.

If a recipe calls for tempeh, try using a more flavorful and hearty bean like the chickpea or kidney beans.

Let’s say you are allergic or do not like the taste of other beans:

Start with chickpeas if you are wary of other beans. Chickpeas have a nice texture and most people who do not like the texture of other beans will most often like the chickpea.

Go for lentils! Lentils have a great texture and are fairly light.

Skip the beans all together and use more whole grains like quinoa or brown rice. If you are finding that you are just not a bean person, simple add in more whole grains to your diet.

You can also use peas/corn/carrots/diced potatoes: starchy vegetables are a great substitute for beans. You can even make

“Green Pea Hummus”

1 1/2 cups cooked peas

3/4 teaspoon sesame seeds

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1 garlic clove

1 tbs tahini (you can leave this out if you want to keep the hummus lower in fat)

1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

And then process!

Bottom line, if you have an allergy to soy (or would rather not use it) or to any other bean you can STILL be completely plant-strong!

Do you have any suggestions for people avoiding soy or other beans? We’d love to hear from you!

Tags:

Natala Constantine

12 Comments

Pemillia915

Posted at 07:36h, 20 March

I am allergic to soy and almonds so a milk substitue has been tough. Can’t find anything without added oil, like rice and have tried Flax milk but that has cold pressed flaxseed oil, is this ok for E2’ers?

Erica

Posted at 13:14h, 20 March

Have you tried oat milk?

Julie Michelle

Posted at 15:20h, 15 May

Oat milk is a great suggestion. I’ve also seen oil free hemp milk and sunflower seed milk available at health food stores. They pretty much can make non-dairy milk out of anything now 🙂

You could make your own brown-rice milk, something that we really like:

Ingredients
1 cup cooked brown rice
4 cups water
1 Tbsp sweetener (prefer honey or agave nectar)
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
Directions
1. Cook 1 cup uncooked brown rice with a dash of salt according to package instructions. This will cook up into about 2 cups of cooked rice. Allowing for 2 batches, or 8 cups of milk.
2. Add 1 cup cooked brown rice with 4 cups water. Add sweetener and vanilla, if desired.
3. Blend on high for up to 3 minutes, or until water turns white.
4. You can strain it if you like, or just shake it well when you use it.
5. Store in fridge.

Or you can make ‘banana milk’ by blending a banana and some water until it is the consistency you are looking for.

It is important to remember that non-dairy milks should only be used as a condiment as it is, so whatever you end up using, just be sure that it is used in small quantities.

Jess

Posted at 10:34h, 20 March

Another great article – loved the bean free hummus! Going to have to try it!

qualitylifestyle

Posted at 11:12h, 20 March

Great article…answered my only question. Well done E2Diet.

Cori

Posted at 12:27h, 20 March

Thank you for bring up info regarding soy allergies. For those of us who also have to follow a low FODMAP diet we cannot tolerate soy, chickpeas, lentils and gluten (among various other items such as apples, pears and certain veggies). This makes eating a plant based diet that much harder. I am struggling to find recipes that don’t call for soy, meat substititues, or other unconsumable beans. As I’m new, I just don’t know what I can substitute for those items….

Engine 2 Team

Posted at 12:38h, 20 March

Cori,
The best thing you can do is start making a list of all of the plant-strong foods that you CAN eat (so every vegetable, fruit, grain, starch) and then start creating menu’s based on that. It will take some planning, but it CAN be done. 🙂

Jeff Cook

Posted at 12:48h, 20 March

Such a timely article for me. I am allergic to black beans, chickpeas and kidney beans but can enjoy lentils, peas and lima beans. But the allergy had me leaning much too heavily on the mighty soy plant! I grew concerned when my doctor mentioned that excessive soy intake can possibly encourage tumor development (what!?!?…. scary stuff). I will definitely be using that Pea Hummus recipe!!

Allys

Posted at 00:38h, 25 March

Thank you for offering so many alternatives to soy, and thanks for providing two recipes too. I so appreciate this!

Maulbeere

Posted at 12:44h, 28 July

Just as a heads up, if you eat gluten free AND are allergic to any pulses (I’m allergic to all beans, peas and lentils including chickpeas, and quinoa for some reason 🙁 ), please do READ the LABELS of GF bread substitutes and flours – many contain ‘pea flour’, which is ground yellow lentils as far as I can tell, and you may have a bean allergy reaction to it. I found out the hard way, and it’s not an experience I’d see anyone have if a timely mention like this can help it. e.g Udis, some Rudis, some GF cheesecakes, some meatball and GF replacement products from brands like Morningstar. Also anything with TVP is likely tricky.
(Also, plant protein powders and protein bars often contain soy or other pulses too, the one to watch there is juice bars like Smoothie King, that add processed plant protein to their smoothies thinking it’s ‘healthy for everyone’. )
Final tip: if you’re in one of those histamine related pain reactions, with massive severe pain and digestive bloating, systemic antihistamines like Benadryl are really helpful. It knocks me out, and I actually suffered for a couple of years before I figured this out, because I normally avoid drugs. But 6 hours of crippling pain and/or vomiting w diarhea vs strongly groggy I’ll trade anyway.

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